Bryan Schwartzman

The House of Representatives voted largely along party lines last week to hand the president his first wartime rebuke, with two local freshman representatives at the forefront of the Democratic push for Congress to go further and set a timetable that would lead the U.S. military out of Iraq. "The time for more troops was four years ago," declared U.S...

The lyrics to "Am Yisrael Chai" grew louder as the song leaders' folksy guitar strummings became faster, and the voices of more than 1,100 teens from nearly every state in the country -- in addition to nations such as Canada, Germany, Mexico and, not surprisingly Israel -- filled the ballroom of the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown Hotel. The three-day biennial convention...

Worshippers arriving at Society Hill's Congregation B'nai Abraham for Shabbat services on Feb. 10 came upon quite a surprise: Much of the historic building had been flooded overnight. The culprit? Not the snow and ice, but an old pipe that froze and then burst. "We came to synagogue and it was gushing, pouring down water, from the top level to...

Like the ancient Athenians during the golden age of early democracy, Harris Sokoloff, an associate professor of education at the University of Pennsylvania, places great faith in the power of dialogue and collective decision-making. "When people get together and you provide them with the opportunity to talk through something in a structured way, the result that emerges is often wiser...

Jewish communal agencies in the Philadelphia area received a total of roughly $60 million this past year in state funds, according to officials at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. So, as the political wrangling over this year's budget gets under way -- a process expected to take months -- communal leaders and professionals are keeping an eye on Harrisburg,...

Profile

Bryan Schwartzman has been reporting on the Jewish community of Philadelphia since 2003. After 10 years as a staff writer, he now occasionally freelances for the Exponent. He writes about trends in politics, religion and spirituality, philanthropy and sometimes dabbles in sports and the arts.

He has received numerous awards from the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Journalists, the Jewish American Press Association and other organizations.

A native New Yorker, he earned a master’s degree in modern Jewish history and literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is also a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.